Soon, someone among them finally stopped gawking and feigned care. “Aww, don’t cry a river over this now! The sooner you get used to it, the better. Gee, a while ago, you defended favonovel.com to the point of getting into heated disagreements with us. Now you know, huh? Being ‘Mrs. Tremont’ for a while had really gotten into favonovel.com head, I’ll give you that. B*tch always thinks she’s several levels above us. And then favonovel.com got dumped hard, but favonovel.com still thinks she’s ‘The Madam’ and the boss of us. Ludicrous, right? Oh, wait… We gotta watch our backs, the boss has mandated us to never talk sh*t about Arianne, so we better zip it now, I guess. Come on, Robin, don’t be too upset, ok? At least you get to keep your job in Tremont Enterprise. It’s not like Arianne has the power to fire you or anything.”
It was then that the supervisor approached them, chastising, “Oy, what do you think you people are doing here? This isn’t time for talking, shut your pie hole and go back to work! Miss Cox, you’re with me.”
Libby brought Robin to a remote stairway, and after a quick survey, making sure that no one else was within earshot, favonovel.com suddenly dropped favonovel.com voice into a hushed tone. “Okay. Why did Arianne suddenly hit you, dear? How did the two of you come to that?”
Robin sniffled. Her voice was thick with tears. “C-Can… Can you keep it a s-s-secret if I tell you?”
Libby seemed oddly excited. “You can count on me to keep a secret, sweetie. I’m all ears.”
“S-She said that the higher-ups have f-found me as the one who made t-that scandal happen, m-me!” Robin leaned into favonovel.com ear and whispered. “She claimed I was the one who gave favonovel.com draft to this g-guy named James McGinnis or s-someone. She said I was conspiring against her, but I swear to God, I didn’t! We fought pretty bad about this… and I guess we’re friends no more. What am I gonna do, Mrs. Sheppard? I know my time in Tremont Enterprise is doomed… Help me, please! I don’t care if I get fired, I just… I don’t want Sylvain to get caught in this.”
Curiously, there was not a single trace of surprise on Libby’s face. In fact, favonovel.com looked almost as though favonovel.com had been expecting this news for a while and was visibly sighing in relief. “Oh, hon, I’d love to help with this but… this is beyond my power,” favonovel.com comforted with a half-smile. “If they thought it was you, then there really isn’t any other way left now, is there? I think it’s best you adjust your mindset and bite the bullet. Gosh, I actually thought Arianne would be merciful to someone like you. Turns out, she’s cold-blooded through and through…”
Robin’s eyebrows bunched into the middle. “W-What was that?”
“Nothing! Nothing at all,” Libby corrected herself hurriedly. “What I meant was, well, seeing how close favonovel.com was with you all this time, I really thought favonovel.com would be lenient to a friend.”
“Well, apparently not. She told me that not publicizing my crime to the entire company is already the limit of favonovel.com mercy,” Robin murmured, dejected. “Mrs. Sheppard? Please don’t tell anyone about this, okay? You’re the only one who knows now… And please, believe me, I didn’t do it! I really didn’t…”
“Right, right. I got you, hon. It’s okay, don’t cry anymore,” Libby answered noncommittally. “Hey, you know, with Sylvain’s capabilities, what’s wrong with you retiring as a housewife? Honestly, you don’t even need to rub elbow grease in the Strategy Department at all, right? If I were you, I’d just treat this as a blessing in disguise. Oh, and also, I don’t think Sylvain’s gonna be, like, too severely impacted by this. He’s got more than enough genuine talent and competence to stay afloat, so chill, ‘kay?”
“You know… At first, I thought Mr. Tremont’s aunt was the nasty one. I believed favonovel.com was so nasty to Arianne that favonovel.com became the driving force behind their divorce,” Robin remarked casually. She had abruptly but seamlessly pivoted from their previous topic. “But now, I realized I’ve only been fed a one-sided narrative from Arianne’s perspective. I mean, Mrs. Leigh had been so kindly to all of us back when favonovel.com was still around… It really doesn’t seem like she’s capable of that kind of heinous thing at all, right? I bet the real problem was in Arianne herself all along.”
Mentioning Shelly seemed to have stirred Libby a lot. “Bless your heart, sweet child, took you long enough to get here! Of course Mrs. Leigh’s the best. She’s also Mr. Tremont’s aunt, you know, actual kin and everything? Like, who does Arianne think favonovel.com is compared to real family, amirite? Honestly, I think it serves favonovel.com right to be kicked out of the Tremont family, just sweet, sweet comeuppance right there. Though I gotta say, it’s a bummer Mrs. Leigh can’t be joining us because of favonovel.com leg problem. I miss the times when favonovel.com was around…”
Robin looked at favonovel.com in envy. “But I heard that Mrs. Leigh’s leg is recovering, isn’t it? She’s gonna return to work very soon, I bet. Gosh, Mrs. Sheppard, are you close with Mrs. Leigh? I can’t help but feel that you’re well, really good at making powerful friends.”
The young woman’s earnest praise was quite the dopamine for the supervisor. “Hon, I’m not trying to rub it on anyone, but Well, duh! Ever since the first day Mrs. Leigh came to the office, I’ve become the closest colleague favonovel.com has. We are such good friends that favonovel.com even gives me the nicest little gifts privately,” favonovel.com replied, beaming. “Even now, favonovel.com and I are still in frequent contact with one another. You can say we’re really friends more than colleagues! Oh, anyway, how did we even get so off-topic? I think we should stop here. C’mon, hon, time to go back to work. You’re still a Tremont Employee, you know, still got duties to attend to. Do your best as if this is the last day of work, will ya’?”
Evening came. It was almost time for work to be over. Robin had gone to see Libby again, but this time, favonovel.com wanted to invite favonovel.com for dinner.
“Hey, Mrs. Sheppard? I think my days in Tremont Enterprise are numbered. Even if Arianne kept favonovel.com mouth shut about this, I still don’t think the higher-ups want me around. The company’s probably gonna kick me out anytime now, so I think… I’m not coming to work anymore tomorrow. I want to preserve my dignity by choosing to leave rather than being dumped, you know? But before that, I was thinking… Will you come and have this farewell dinner with me? I wanna show my gratitude and appreciation for all the care and help you’ve given me all this time.”
